Monaco 2016

[Mintexmemory]

Rosberg. The hell, man? Have you taken leave of your senses? You have ONE opponent and you follow team orders to let him pass? In a race where you can even defend your position even when you're three seconds slower? What's the point of trying to become world champion if you're not even trying? The very guy you let pass would have ignored the team order as he has done so often in the past. What in the wild world of sports are you trying to achieve by playing the team game when the other half doesn't and runs off with the silverware? Grow a pair, will you?

Which Team Orders has Hamilton ignored in the past? Just as many as Rosberg I'd venture. At least the THREE TIMES CHAMP has never pulled the 'let's end Q3 early by spinning' trick.
What you saw yesterday was a driver who simply doesn't have the cojones for a wet race and one that comes into his own when balance and touch become a premium rather than gizmo management. Hulk rubbed that fact in when he decided tippy toe driving wasn't warranted with just a few spits!!
To address points made elsewhere, clearly the Merc chassis is behind the RBR -witness the inability to make the tyres perform from cool - the reason for Hamilton's very slow out lap on the US and how RIC almost jumped him on the restarts.
As for the chicane incident - at least it was consistent with the Barca decision though on this occasion RIC needed to realise that Hamilton was in an unstable state exiting the chicane - I don't think there was a deliberate squeeze in the manner that the aquaphobic one did 2 weeks ago.
It would have been interesting had Hamilton been behind RIC after the stops. Given the clear power advantage the Merc had in the DRS zone it isn't a given that the Red Bull would have kept ahead.
I thought it was a great 'race' and agree that it showed up the men from the boys from the over the hills from the never wills.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Which Team Orders has Hamilton ignored in the past?

Watch Hungary 2014. Also, I don't know which race it was (Spain 2015 I think), where he was told to save the engine by switching to Strat-mode six, the same that Nico in the lead was told to use (and used). Lewis ignored three clear orders to go from Strat-10 to Strat-6 trying to close in on Rosberg. The team then told Nico to go up to Strat-10 as well. There was another incident where the team told him to come in and he ignored them until his engineer told him that they would give Nico the undercut if he doesn't come in. And that's just three examples I readily remember.

As for your rant about Rosberg. Cut the hate, man, his car was completely messed up. I don't think Toto would apologize for it if it wasn't the team's fault. Lewis might be somewhat better in the rain, but he is not three seconds better, even a certified Hamfosi would not claim something like that.

[zako85]

Dj,

Giving Rosberg a team order to let his teammate through just as Rosberg's slow car was about to create a long train of following cars, while Ricciardo was allowed to run away for the win right from the beginning of the race, was certainly a smart thing to do. The goal of any team is to win a race rather than create a colorful fight on the track for the fans while letting the race leader get away.

The GP of Monaco was certainly underwhelming because of Red Bull's pit crew mistake. Many, many people were so oh disappointed about this, but I wonder if these were the same people who were cheering when a bad race engineer call at the last year's Monaco GP made Hamilton lose his certain win. This random crap always happens in racing.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Dj,

Giving Rosberg a team order to let his teammate through just as Rosberg's slow car was about to create a long train of following cars, while Ricciardo was allowed to run away for the win right from the beginning of the race, was certainly a smart thing to do. The goal of any team is to win a race rather than create a colorful fight on the track for the fans while letting the race leader get away.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. Most other drivers, including Hamilton himself, would have told the team where to shove it. What if Rosberg loses the championship by less than seven points? Seven points he wouldn't have lost if he had held Lewis behind him long enough for Ricciardo to escape? It would mean that he would still be 31 points ahead instead of 24. Two of Vettels four titles have been won by less than that small margin.

I have no idea why Rosberg does that to begin with. Everybody knows that, if the roles were reversed, there would be no chance in hell that Lewis would have followed such an order. So what's the point? There's no prize for being a team-player, especially not when your opponent doesn't play by the same rules.

[Bagwan]

No , dj , Nico would have been pilloried by all and sundry , had he decided to hold Lewis up any longer .

He knew he was slow and he didn't have any answer , other than to do the honourable thing .

I guess he now knows why he was slow , with brake ducts taped too much .
Hopefully , they'll give him enough justification on why his were as they were , different from the other car .

[Firstgear]

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. Most other drivers, including Hamilton himself, would have told the team where to shove it. What if Rosberg loses the championship by less than seven points? Seven points he wouldn't have lost if he had held Lewis behind him long enough for Ricciardo to escape? It would mean that he would still be 31 points ahead instead of 24. Two of Vettels four titles have been won by less than that small margin.

I have no idea why Rosberg does that to begin with. Everybody knows that, if the roles were reversed, there would be no chance in hell that Lewis would have followed such an order. So what's the point? There's no prize for being a team-player, especially not when your opponent doesn't play by the same rules.

He did hold Lewis back long enough. But the RBR pit crew and Lewis skipping the inters changed that.

[dj_bytedisaster]

No , dj , Nico would have been pilloried by all and sundry , had he decided to hold Lewis up any longer .

He knew he was slow and he didn't have any answer , other than to do the honourable thing

We'll see if he'll still find it to be a good idea should he lose the championship by, let's say 5 points. Then those seven points that RIC would have stolen off Lewis will be sorely missed. Championships are decided not on the days where things go well, but on those days when something isn't right. Imagine it would have been Lewis who'd been asked to let Rosberg drive past. Not counting that he would never have done that anyway, his fanbase would have made the internet explode over the team's decision. I think that's why they dared giving that order. They knew that only Nico would obey something like that. I think, even in a compromised car, you should be allowed to race and Monaco is a track where he could have managed to keep his position, even in a car that was a second or two off the pace.

I guess he now knows why he was slow , with brake ducts taped too much .
Hopefully , they'll give him enough justification on why his were as they were , different from the other car .

I don't think there really is a justification, other than it being a bad team mistake, as Toto admitted after the race. They also praised Nico's team-player qualities, but sadly such things aren't rewarded in F1. Had he been allowed to keep Lewis behind until he would inevitably be passed through pitstops not even RB's blunder could have prevented RIC's win and he would still have 31 points lead instead of 24. Even with Lewis's engine-related grid drops looming on the horizon, Rosberg's chances to win the title have just massively reduced.

[zako85]

What if Rosberg loses the championship by less than seven points?

If Rosberg loses the championship by 7 points, then that's not going to be a big deal for the team. They take the double championship title wins (constructor and driver) as well as the Monaco GP win. Nobody is going to lose sleep over letting Hamiltoon overtake a wounded Rosberg car as early as the Monaco GP in the season.

Morevoer, if Hamilton wins only by seven points then that's going to be a really interesting season!

[Mintexmemory]

I love the Merc spin machine! (This is not a rant by the way !) Is Toto going to say to the press 'Nico couldn't get the tyres to work because he cannot handle damp conditions' - Of course not.

[Barreis]

If Rosberg loses the championship by 7 points, then that's not going to be a big deal for the team. They take the double championship title wins (constructor and driver) as well as the Monaco GP win. Nobody is going to lose sleep over letting Hamiltoon overtake a wounded Rosberg car as early as the Monaco GP in the season.

Morevoer, if Hamilton wins only by seven points then that's going to be a really interesting season!

Rosberg's car was hardly wounded. Pure lack of confidance...